Latin Quotes, Sayings, Tattoos, Phrases & Mottos

Most texts and materials on this site have to do with the Latin language, including its perception in popular culture: movies, tattoos, inscriptions, engravings, bits of ancient philosophy, online Latin resources and company names. There is also information about learning Latin and Greek: textbooks, dictionaries, DVDs and software that can be used in a homeschooling environment.

Fratricide - did it start with Cicero?

No, Cicero did not kill his brother, which, of course, is implied by the meaning of the word fratricide (Latin fratricida actually means the person who committed the crime rather than the crime itself). However, we may owe it largely to Cicero that words such as 'fratricide', 'matricide' and 'sororicide' (ever heard of this one?) actually exist. The word 'paricida' was often used in Classical Latin indiscriminately to denote someone who murdered a close relative - it must have been a rare crime. Cicero in "De Domo Sua" uses all three words 'matricida,' 'fratricida,' 'sororicida' in once sentence, thus ensuring that countless generations of future Latinists are aware of this fine distinction:

Philosophic terminology in Latin

I have published a first pass of a new word list: Philosophical terminology in Latin. It would is a nearly impossible task to come up with a comprehensive dictionary of Latin terms used in any particular setting. Philosophical Latin is highly technical and individual philosophers often adapted existing terms for their own needs. Still, it is my hope that this wordlist will be useful to someone just starting to read philosophic works in the original Latin. Most of these terms were used in medieval texts, because Ancient Rome never matched Greece as a center of philosophic studies. Roman philosophy was rather eclectic, even at its best (Lucretius, for example). This list of terms (over 500 entries!) generally only includes individual words and notions, leaving aside common sayings such as "Cogito ergo sum" etc. I am considering making a separate list of such phrases.

A classic 20th century Russian novel by Ilf and Petrov entitled "The Twelve Chairs" contains a verbal exchange, highly humorous, in my opinion, between a con artist trying to raise money, supposedly for the needs of the anti-Bolshevik underground, and a small town fellow, sympathetic to the cause:

I do not remember if this scene is present in Mel Brooks 1970 adaptation of the novel. Regardless, the point is that the word "always" (semper in Latin) possesses a very high level of appeal when it comes to indicating one's allegiance to something.

300 Most Common Latin Words

300 words is not a lot, but they go a long way! Typically, around 2000 words in any language is enough to be able to figure out simple texts with the use of a dictionary. A much shorter word list of 300 entries may be a good start for an absolute beginner or someone who merely wants to understand mottos and basic Latin quotes.